Warehouse Theatre to Present BIG VOICE: THE ETHEL MERMAN EXPERIENCE, 6/19-29

Warehouse Theatre Company will open it's 2014 season with the world premiere musical BIG VOICE: THE ETHEL MERMAN EXPERIENCE, a unique concert experience that features the music of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Ray Henderson, Jule Styne, and George Gershwin.

BIG VOICE was conceived and written by Warehouse Theatre Company Artistic Director Kristofer Green and based on Ethel Merman's own words. Green will also direct the production which will run JUNE 19-29, 2014 at the Columbus Performing Arts Center Van Fleet Theatre.

It's 1963 and Ethel Merman, well rested and as brash as ever after her long run as Rose in the hit musical Gypsy, is making a rare concert appearance at the New York nightclub Bon Soir. The small club, packed to the brim, offers Merman the opportunity to loosen up a bit and Mermo does not disappoint.

The brassy and abrasive, but ever cheerful Queen of Broadway dishes on her career, her life, and the men she has encountered along the way between the songs that shaped her incredible Broadway career.

"Ethel Merman was a phenomenon I'm sorry I wasn't old enough to experience live," says Warehouse Theatre Company Artistic Director Kristofer Green. "She stepped on stage as a 20-year-old unknown in Girl Crazy and walked off the Queen of Broadway. There was no one bigger."

"I wanted to pay tribute to Merman without doing a parody of her," Green said. "She was a very intuitive woman, a very intuitive performer. She came at you from the heart and from the gut."

"Her life, her story, her music. She is an American icon because of what she represents-ingenuity, individualism, professionalism, and the audacity to make it happen."

BIG VOICE will star Columbus actress Heather Carvel as Ethel Merman. Carvel has appeared with many Central Ohio theatre companies over the last decade including award winning performances as Judy Denmark (Little Theatre Off Broadway's Ruthless) and the title role in Mame (Gahanna Community Theatre). Other notable roles include Meredith (Second Stage Theatre's Batboy The Musical), Miss Hannigan (Pleasure Guild's Annie) and Mary (Available Light's Merrily We Roll Along).

Carvel is joined in the cast by Cody Shope (Donald; Catco's Avenue Q, Short North Stage's Sunday in the Park with George and Tommy) and Elisabeth Tate (Mary; Catco's Evil Dead The Musical, Actor's Theatre's The Three Musketeers).

BIG VOICE features the music of Irving Berlin (Annie Get Your Gun, Call Me Madam), Cole Porter (Anything Goes, Panama Hattie, Dubarry Was A Lady, Red Hot and Blue), Ray Henderson and Lew Brown (George White's Scandals of 1931), Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim (Gypsy), and George and Ira Gershwin (Girl Crazy).

Only 6 performances of BIG VOICE: THE ETHEL MERMAN EXPERIENCE are scheduled, beginning Thursday, JUNE 19 at 8:00 pm and continuing Friday, JUNE 20 at 8:00 pm, Saturday, JUNE 21 at 8:00 pm, Sunday, June 22 at 8:00 pm, Saturday, JUNE 28 at 3:00 pm, and Sunday, JUNE 29 at 8:00 pm.

Tickets are $25 (General Admission) and can be purchased online at www.warehousetheatre.org or by calling Warehouse Theatre Audience Services at 614-371-5940.

STUDENT RUSH TICKETS
Full-time students (with a valid school ID) may purchase tickets at 1/2 price for 1/2 hour at the venue beginning 1 hour before curtain time. Students must purchase tickets in person (1 per ID).

THRIFTY THURSDAYS
Save $7 on tickets for all Thursday performances. Discount only available on tickets purchased in person, at the venue, on the day of the performance.

GROUP SALES
Groups of 10 or more receive a 25% discount. Tickets must be purchased together and in advance in order to receive discount.

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